a question which cannot be
decided by the cold, calculating intellect. Without a doubt, there is
here something unique in the history of the world--something which no
psychology can fathom and no logic can construct into exact
propositions. But here once again, the two elements--the Spiritual
Substance and its Form--are apparent in the life of the Founder, and in
our conceptions concerning his life and death. But we need not fear that
any real loss will accrue if we hold fast to the indisputable fact of
the presence of a divinity within his life--a divinity which has to be
repeated on a smaller scale in our own lives before we are ever able to
have even a glimmer of it. It is out of such a spiritual experience that
the life of the Master can gain its real value and significance for us.
But in the past there has been a tendency to see a good deal of this
significance in theological constructions which have now ceased to
contain any genuine meaning. At the best these constructions could never
mean more than the best intellectual presentations of good men.
Something besides them--deeper than them all--had to appear before any
soul could be [p.198] converted to the things of Eternal Life. Here
Eucken shows that metaphysical concepts such as the Trinity have tended
to become purely anthropomorphic and mythological, probably necessary at
a certain level of religion, but which have now been superseded by truer
conceptions of life and existence. There is no longer any meaning in
asking whether the Founder was a "mere man" or a God. He was an
intermediate reality between the two. To measure the depth and content
of his soul is a presumption of shallow minds; to determine in a
speculative manner the exact nature of his divinity, and to formulate
imposing doctrines out of all this is quite as presumptuous. It is
sufficient for us to know that he overcame the world, that the Godhead
dwelt in a form of immediacy within his soul. All this is an
experimental proof of the working of the Divine upon the plane of Time.
But such Divine breaks in pieces if it is subjected to exact
determinations. Some account of it we must have: the understanding
demands this; but that account must include what the best light of
knowledge has to throw on the subject. But when all is said, something
infinitely greater remains unsaid, and yet to be experienced--something
that requires the soul to exert itself in order to experience what all
this means. When f